Sunday, 7 March 2010

The report “Asylum: Getting the Balance Right?” inspected the UK Border Agency’s effectiveness in meeting its published targets for concluding asylum applications and legacy cases whilst ensuring quality decision-making and the provision of information to applicants.

Independent Chief Inspector, John Vine CBE QPM found that the UK Border Agency had almost 30,000 cases under the New Asylum Model (NAM) that had not been concluded within the required six month period. He has recommended the introduction of clear targets to resolve these outstanding cases.

The report also found that the UK Border Agency would need to conclude over 11,000 cases a month to achieve its target of clearing the legacy of old asylum cases by July 2011. At the time of inspection he found that only 4,500 cases were being cleared each month.

Mr Vine said: “I have found that the UK Border Agency has clear performance targets that rightly focus on concluding asylum cases and these have driven improvement. However the UK Border Agency needs to strike the right balance between meeting performance targets and high quality decision making when dealing with some of the most vulnerable people in society. We should remember that, first and foremost, this is about people’s lives.”